Two held for murder after bones of boys found
Two suspects who ran an initiation school in the North West have been arrested after the discovery of human bones by officers probing the disappearance of two boys in December.
The two were arrested in Ntsweletsoku village, North West, on Friday. The two boys were reported missing at the Motswedi and Lehurutshe police stations in December.
The investigation took a grim turn when police stumbled upon what appeared to be human skeletal remains concealed in a plastic bag in the bushes near Mosweu village. Subsequent examinations confirmed that the bodies matched those of the missing young men.
The ongoing investigation is probing the circumstances surrounding the incident. Law enforcement authorities have not ruled out the possibility of connecting the suspects to additional cases, potentially involving the violation of the Customary Initiation Act of 2021.
North West provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Sello Kwena commended everyone involved in the operation.
The accused, aged 19 and 21, were set to appear before the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court yesterday. They were to face charges of murder.
Meanwhile, detectives in Swartkops, Nelson Mandela Bay, have asked the community to help them find a 60-year-old woman who went missing on 30 December, 2023.
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said Ntombizanele Gamone was last seen when she left her home in Wells Estate on 29 December. She told her niece she was visiting her boyfriend and would be back soon.
“According to information, she went to the house of her boyfriend in Wells Estate and left at about 2am on Saturday morning and never returned home,” said Janse van Rensburg. She was reported missing on 31 December 2023.
Police and Gamone’s family visited other family members and friends to try and find her. They also went to nearby hospitals and mortuaries. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a pink gown with white dots.
Anyone who can assist in tracing Gamone can contact Swartkops police on 082-302-5807, Captain Sinethemba Madikizela on 082-697-5979, or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.